


Green-Eyed Monster

by StormySeaWitch



Category: The Dragon Prince (Cartoon)
Genre: Bittersweet, F/M, Rayllum, Spoiler but they're not together in the end, the one that got away
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-06
Updated: 2019-05-06
Packaged: 2020-02-26 23:36:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18727141
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/StormySeaWitch/pseuds/StormySeaWitch
Summary: Callum was the one that got away.They parted ways as children, and meet again as adults. But have they missed their shot?





	Green-Eyed Monster

**Author's Note:**

> Based on a prompt from the Rayllum discord.

#

 

When Rayla had agreed to a ‘sensitive diplomatic mission’ on Katolis soil, she would be lying if she said it wasn’t for purely selfish reasons.

She’d been hoping to see Callum, since they hadn’t exactly parted ways on the best terms. But she had been a mere child, and now Rayla understood that their argument had been petty and with little foundation. Now, as an adult, a Moonshadow Assassin without a single kill under her belt, a defector from her profession, Rayla knew she would be able to mend that rift.

She had travelled as a diplomat, it’s true, but in truth she was a glorified bodyguard. A sellsword. And even though she’d traipsed all the way across Xadia and stood in the castle grounds, she hadn’t seen Callum. Maybe he was avoiding her, or maybe he didn’t realise she’d come along.

Either way, she was annoyed.

Rayla spent her days wandering around the cursed caldera now, swiping at vines with her blades or making up poems in her head. The rebuilding of the Moon Nexus was an instrumental to repairing the relationship between the magical and non-magical sides of the world, and it gave the Moonshadow elves and all other creatures with a connection to the celestial body a reason to travel through Katolis.

And it gave Rayla a reason to lay around and get bored while the diplomats and mages that she was meant to be protecting simply lay around and got bored with her. King Ezran had provided a steady stream of human labourers to assist the Elven ones, and for the most part everyone got along just fine.

‘Rayla!’

She spun on her heel, hands tightening around the handle of her blades, but she had no expectation to use them. Upon seeing him, she relaxed.

‘Ruvyn,’ she greeted with a lazy smile.

The broad-shouldered Earthblood Elf had also been hired to protect the diplomatic party, and he’d done literally nothing but flirt with her for months. Despite this, the two were good friends, and Ruvyn had a good sense of humour.

‘We’re needed up top,’ he said, slinging an arm around her shoulders. ‘Apparently there’s some diplomatic party coming from his royal human highness.’

Rayla rolled her eyes. ‘Come to make sure the nasty elves aren’t constructing a mega weapon to destroy them all?’

‘Probably,’ he laughed, offering his arm.

Rayla gave him a shove and leapt up the stairs two at a time. They raced back to the top of the Moon Nexus, halfway done in its construction, and weaved their way through the waiting crowd. They slipped into place with the other sellswords, Ruvyn winking at her as she passed.

‘What have you two been up to?’ whispered Salah, the Moonshadow ambassador that Rayla had been assigned to.

‘It’s not like that,’ she snorted.

‘Put the poor boy out of his misery,’ Salah laughed, her voice high and light.

Before Rayla could reply, the sound of horses coming up the now-worn path through the caldera made the words die on her tongue. She took her spot just behind her charge and straightened her back. Too much time with Salah had turned her into not only a fearsome weapon of a woman, but a perfect looking ambassador as well.

Shoulders square, chin lifted, twin blades loosely at her sides, waiting for a reason to unclasp and defend their owner or her charge, Rayla’s eyes steeled at the sight of King Ezran’s banners.

On a handsome brown stallion, a bright smile on his face, was Prince Callum. He was older as well… duh. Of course he was. But it was one thing to acknowledge that her old friend aged with her, and another thing to _see_ it.

He was still a weedy human boy, still had five weird fingers and no horns and brown hair and a dumb smile. But he had no baby fat, his jaw more set, his shoulders pulled back, his head held high. He looked comfortable in the saddle, which he definitely hadn’t done back when they were friends, and he slid from it in an easy, practiced motion.

For the Elf watching his every move, it was like being socked in the stomach. He was _here_ and they could _talk_ and maybe even repair their relationship.

She was even halfway through calling his name, but for the second time in so many minutes, her words died on her tongue.

Callum reached out a hand to the rider of the horse beside him, and Rayla watched as he held her hand as she slipped from the saddle.

‘Prince Callum, brother of King Ezran,’ called one of the bannermen. ‘And Claudia, daughter of Viren, Royal Mage of Katolis, and Prince Callum’s intended.’

She nearly dropped her blades in surprise. Intended? Callum was going to _marry_ that skinny five fingered dark magic lying snake?

As she watched Callum let Claudia’s hand go so that he could greet the Xadian ambassadors, she felt a strange feeling creep its way up her spine. Like a white hot burning feeling, making all eight fingers tingle, and her shoulders square up. She breathed in deep through her nose.

It was fine. She hadn’t seen Callum in _years_ and the last time she _had_ seen him, she’d told him she never wanted to see him again.

Which wasn’t strictly true, but still, the words had bubbled their way up her throat before she could stop and think about what they meant.

And now he was here, with _Claudia_ , the dark mage.

‘Rayla? Is that you?’

She blinked a few times, shaking her head to clear her head. Callum was looking at her, like he wasn’t sure how to approach. She took a short breath through her nose, then smiled.

‘Hey Callum,’ she said with a wave. ‘I didn’t know you were gonna be here.’

The relief on his face was like a balm and she was momentarily distracted by the thought that maybe everything would be okay.

‘Yeah, yeah, Ez wanted me to check on the progress and make sure everything was going okay,’ he said, stepping around Salah (which the ambassador would later say was quite rude, but Rayla knew that Callum had never been great at all the _Princely_ things) and coming to stand in front of her. ‘If I’d have known you were here I would have come months ago.’

She couldn’t help but smile in response. ‘That’s okay, you’re here now.’

Behind him, Salah was giving her a raised eyebrow and an expression like she was going to ask lots of questions later on.

‘But,’ Rayla said quickly. ‘We can catch up later, have you met Salah? She’s one of the Moonshadow mages who’s helped organise this whole restoration.’

Callum seemed to realise where he was and spun around to cover his ass. Salah didn’t seem to mind as she took over, introducing him to the other mages and brains behind the Moon Nexus restoration.

Ruvyn caught her eye and raised a questioning eyebrow, and she just shook her head, delaying the conversation as much as possible. As soon as the formalities were over, Rayla excused herself and chose the outermost area to patrol.

She swung her twin blades in unison, slicing up falling petals and leaving vicious gashes in mid-air. She had a mission. Support the team rebuilding the Moon Nexus. The most sacred place for her people, for _anyone_ connected to the Moon Arcanum.

Not to let stupid, doe eyed, engaged princes distract her from the task at hand.

‘Rayla?’

She whipped around, blades at the ready. She really needed to stop letting others sneak up on her like that.

‘Ruvyn,’ she greeted, only relaxing her blades a little. ‘Sorry. I just needed to clear my head.’

‘Yeah,’ Ruvyn said with a chuckle. ‘I think the whole Nexus could see your discomfort at being around the prince. I didn’t realise you were so chummy with the human royals.’

She snorted. ‘Not for a very long time.’

The Earthblood elf regarded her quietly, his rich brown eyes staring into her soul.

She breathed deeply, and sheathed her swords, shoulders relaxing. In the forests outside the Nexus, it was easy to believe they were alone. It would be easy to melt into him, let herself be more than just a bodyguard or an assassin or a pair of swords that could be bought for the right price.

‘So you and Prince Callum were uh… close?’

‘Kind of,’ she replied, sitting on a fallen tree trunk. ‘We fought though, the last time we were together. It’s been a while.’

‘You’re worried he won’t want to mend your friendship?’

‘I don’t know why I’m worried,’ she laughed, wrapping her arms around her knees and hugging them close to her. ‘I mean we haven’t seen each other in years and he’s obviously been fine, he’s engaged to Claudia, which means he’s moving on with his life… clearly our journey didn’t affect his life the way it affected mine.’

Ruvyn sat beside her, nudging her playfully in the side with his shoulder. ‘Are you jealous?’

A spike of defensiveness coursed through her. ‘What? No. What’s there to be jealous of? An extra, useless finger?’

Ruvyn laughed. ‘I came to find you because Salah wanted to talk to you. I think she wants the gossip.’

‘Can I leave you with this very important stretch of woodland, though?’ she teased, getting to her feet.

From his sitting position on the rock, Ruvyn did a half bow. ‘I’ll protect it with my life, my lady.’

She rolled her eyes, and darted away into the trees, hearing his hearty belly laugh behind her.

  
#

  
When Rayla knocked on Salah’s door it was Callum that answered, his sheepish smile knocking the wind out of her.

‘Hi,’ he breathed.

‘Hi,’ she replied, fingers itching to have a weapon in her hands, no doubt a fight or flight instinct to being this close to him.

‘I didn’t…’ He paused, thinking his words over carefully. ‘I thought you’d still be mad at me.’

‘No,’ she said, too quickly. ‘No, I’m not mad.’

‘Me neither,’ he smiled, stepping back enough to let her in.

She took a few hesitant steps, looking around; they were completely alone.

It was strange, given how much time she’d spent in these particular quarters. Callum didn’t belong in here, and yet there he stood, bold as brass.

Well, maybe not bold. Nervous, awkward, the Callum she used to know trapped in the body of a man she’d never met before. He had a primal stone at his hip, in a leather pouch designed to keep it safe, the strap slung across his chest. On his other side was the gleaming hilt of a sword, and Rayla couldn’t help being amused as she wondered to herself if he even knew how to use it.

They stood facing each other, wondering what to say, what to do. There had been years between their last meeting – they were different people now. But Rayla felt that tug to him that she always had, drawing her towards him.

Before she knew it, she was standing right in front of him, her violet eyes boring into his green.

‘Rayla…’ he said quietly, eyes searching hers.

‘I’m so sorry,’ she interrupted. ‘I shouldn’t have said what I said to you.’

Callum started. ‘What? No, I was the one who said all those awful things and you were just trying to tell me how you felt and-‘

‘No, please,’ Rayla said, putting her hands up. ‘We really, _really_ don’t need to go into that.’

She registered the look of concern on Callum’s handsome face and her will faltered a little.

‘I think we need to,’ he pressed, gesturing to Salah’s tea table.

Even though her limbs shook with the weight of their situation, she found herself sitting at a fancy tea table with her arcanum sigil sitting under a shiny metal tea set. To calm her nerves, she folded her hands together.

He sat opposite her and honestly, he looked just as fidgety as she felt.

‘First thing-‘ he started.

‘Why are you getting married to Claudia?’ she blurted, cutting him off.

A flutter in her heart when guilt crossed his face. He reached up and scratched the back of his neck.

‘It was Ezran’s idea,’ he said with a sigh. ‘He knew that one of the other kingdoms was interested in a political marriage and he didn’t want to force me to do anything I didn’t want to do. Unfortunately, he panicked and said that I was already engaged, and he knew that I’d had feelings for Claudia in the past so…’

Rayla felt that burning feeling in her spine and the turning of her stomach. Ruvyn’s words echoed in her mind; _are you jealous?_

‘I couldn’t really make Ez look bad, since he’s such a young ruler, so I spoke to Claudia and she agreed and… yeah.’

The Moonshadow elf fiddled with the tea set. Processing this information was… difficult. Once upon a time, she had entertained the idea of them being together.

Now it seemed like that idea had died once upon a time ago.

‘That’s… great,’ she finished unenthusiastically.

Callum rolled his eyes.

‘No, it is. I’m sorry. It’s really great, congratulations.’ It didn’t feel great.

‘I feel like a jerk,’ he said, looking down at the silver teacup in front of him. ‘If I wasn’t… I mean.’

Rayla watched him fumble with his words, her mouth turning up in the hint of a smile.

‘If I’d have listened to you… we could have…’

His green eyes met hers, and Rayla was glad that she was sitting because her knees went _weak_.

‘It would have been something,’ he said with a warm smile. ‘Can you imagine?’

‘The crown prince of Katolis running off with some Moonshadow assassin?’ she clarified. ‘Definitely something.’

They fell into silence for a moment or two. Rayla wondered if he was picturing it as well. _What_ he was picturing.

‘Can I kiss you?’ Callum asked, out of the blue. His face was red, and she could see the fifteen year old boy she used to know in his expression. ‘Sorry, that was stupid.’

‘You’re meant to be marrying Claudia,’ Rayla pointed out, her voice a lot breathier than she’d planned.

‘I know,’ Callum replied quickly. ‘I don’t know what I was thinking. Sorry.’

‘Can’t believe you came all the way out here to break my heart,’ Rayla snorted, getting to her feet. Even though her tone was teasing, she couldn’t help but feel the bitterness in her. He had the nerve to lead her on and be a jerk about it.

She unfurled her blades, feeling the rising urge to slash at something.

‘I’ll leave. I’ll leave you alone for the rest of the trip and it’ll be like I was never here,’ Callum said, also getting to his feet. ‘I’m sorry, Rayla. It was good seeing you.’

From childhood, Rayla had been taught to trust her instincts. But she’d always failed when push came to shove. She couldn’t kill the soldier on her first mission, hadn’t been able to kill King Harrow or Ezran. And when she’d tried to tell Callum how she’d felt, and he’d panicked, Rayla had let him run back to Katolis with his tail between his legs.

Her instincts were screaming at her, and this time she listened.

Rayla’s arm whipped out and caught Callum’s bicep. He stopped instantly, giving Rayla a chance to look him in the eye. It felt like someone had smashed a sky primal stone in the room, given the amount of charged air between them.

‘Can I kiss you?’ Rayla asked, her voice faltering a little.

Assassins hid in shadows, and sellswords stayed out of sight until needed. And Rayla had every emotion she’d ever felt for this stupid human boy laid out on full display.

She stepped a little closer, giving him a chance to say no, or turn away, or run, but he stayed, eyes locked on to hers.

‘Callum?’

The prince’s physical reaction to hearing his name was enough to set her nerves on fire. He lifted his chin, licked his lips and good gods, Rayla would remember that image for all her days.

His lips on hers were warm and soft, gentler than she had ever imagined. He tasted like cool wine and kissed like a dream and Rayla melted against him. He took her face in his hands and deepened their kiss, and she wound her arms around him neck.

‘ _Rayla_ ,’ he whispered against her mouth, and the elf keened in response. He peppered kisses down her neck and she was in serious danger of her knees giving out.

‘Callum,’ she began, but a knock on the door had them jumping apart. Rayla swiped the back of her hand across her mouth and ran her other hand through her hair. Callum turned his back on her and took a few deep breaths.

‘Yeah?’ he called, and the door cracked open. Claudia poked her head inside.

‘Hey, Salah said you were here. Hi Rayla,’ she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. ‘Did I interrupt something?’

‘No, not at all,’ Callum said quickly, opening the door wider to show his intended that absolutely _nothing_ had happened. ‘Are you okay?’

‘Yes, the elven ambassadors were looking for you, that’s all. They’re ready to give you a progress report and their projected timeline.’

Callum nodded, and ran his hand through his hair. ‘That’s uh, that’s perfect, thanks Claudia. Rayla, are you uh, are you coming?’

Rayla shook her head. ‘I’ll be around, but I’m not an ambassador. Just a guard. I’ll see you around though?’

‘Of course,’ Callum smiled, and he followed his fiancée out the door.

Rayla waited a few moments before sitting back down at the tea table and resting her head in her hands.

‘What the hell?’ she whispered to herself.

 

#

 

Rayla and Callum didn’t speak for the rest of the week. In fact, they actively avoided each other. The first time they made contact after their kiss was as Callum was packing his saddlebags for the ride back to the castle.

As he tightened the saddlebags so they wouldn’t disrupt the horse on their trip, Rayla tapped him on the shoulder with a slender finger.

‘Hey,’ she said, giving him a sheepish smile.

‘Rayla! Hi,’ he breathed, spinning to face her. ‘How are you? Did you… come to see us off?’

Rayla gave a quick nod, hands behind her back. ‘I’m sorry I didn’t come and see you this week. I know you’ve been busy, but it’s no excuse…’

‘No, it’s not just you,’ he confessed. Callum looked around, and once he was sure they were alone, he took a breath. ‘Rayla I think part of me will always love you, and I’m sorry that I have to be the one to run away again after you’ve shown me your heart.’

Rayla felt her face warm up and she was sure she was blushing. ‘Callum, you don’t have to-‘

‘No, I do, please let me just say this,’ he pleaded. ‘I did like you, back then. I was just terrified. Xadia was so different and I was a stupid kid. Then I realised my mistake but I didn’t know how to find you and the whole thing happened with Claudia and it was too late.’

Rayla managed to bring herself to look him in the eye.

‘I’m sorry it didn’t turn out differently. I wish it did,’ he said quietly.

‘Me too,’ she replied. ‘I’ll always love you too, in my own way.’

Callum offered his hand. ‘Friends?’

She took it. ‘Friends.’

Rayla stood behind Salah as the elven ambassador party waved Callum and his group off.

Callum threw a sad smile over his shoulder, and Rayla’s heart thudded hard in her chest. They watched as a group as the horses disappeared down the caldera.

Eventually it was just Rayla and Salah, staring down an empty road, the Katolis party long gone.

‘He liked you, you know,’ Salah said, looping her arm through Rayla’s.

‘A long time ago,’ she replied. ‘We’re just friends now.’

‘He’s going to marry the dark mage.’

‘Apparently,’ Rayla sighed. ‘I can’t do anything about it now. We missed our shot.’

‘Maybe in another life,’ Salah said, tugging her friend away from the road. ‘Until then, come and see the Nexus. It’s going to be beautiful.’

Rayla let Salah lead her away, and instead turned her attention to the ancient primal nexus for her arcanum.

 

#

 

Her spot was up the back, behind the royal family, the noble lords and ladies from the other kingdoms, the noble lords and ladies from Katolis, a few elven ambassadors, the common people of Katolis and then finally herself, sitting on the inner bailey wall.

Salah had begged her to join the ambassadors in the crowd but she’d politely refused. It was one thing to watch the ceremony, but another for Callum to see her face in the crowd halfway through saying his vows.

She’d even given up her usual stealthy assassin outfit and switched it out for a specially designed dress. It was made for the female assassins to be able to work undercover and still function as a killer. It was the only dress she had.

She watched with an aching heart as Callum and Claudia had their hands bound with a beautifully decorated ribbon, and as King Ezran raced up the steps to congratulate the newly wedded couple.

She slipped from the walls to find Salah as the reception started, and she stayed close with the other elves as they all waited for the couple to join the party.

‘Rayla!’

She spun around only to be tackled by a floofy haired King.

‘Hey Ez,’ she laughed, hugging him. ‘Long time, no see.’

‘I missed you so much,’ he said with a wide grin. ‘I didn’t know you were coming.’

‘I didn’t know I was coming either,’ she said, rolling her eyes. ‘Callum and I had some… issues, but we talked it out, and I didn’t want to miss his big day.’

Ezran beamed at her and looped his arms around hers. He made it his priority to introduce Rayla to every dignitary he could find, and eventually she was able to wiggle away from the young King’s clutches.

A round of applause and whistles and cheering announced the arrival of the bride and groom, and Rayla felt her heart leap into her throat.

He looked good in his suit, she mused, hanging around the fringes of the crowd with a drink in her hand.

‘Are you behaving, considering he’s married now?’ Salah asked, and Rayla gave her a coy look.

‘We’re friends,’ she replied.

‘Well your _friend_ is looking at you like you’re a ghost.’

Rayla followed Salah’s line of sight and noticed that Callum was indeed looking at them. He whispered something to Claudia, then made a beeline for them.

Salah muttered an excuse and vanished into the crowd.

‘Rayla,’ Callum greeted.

‘Hey, congratulations. You look very handsome, for a human,’ she teased.

The prince just laughed, waving her comments off with a flick of his hand. ‘You look really pretty too. I didn’t think you would be here.’

‘I won’t be here for long,’ Rayla explained. ‘I just had to come and see you. Say congrats and all that. Weddings are a great cause for celebration in Xadia, you know.’

He looked disappointed to hear that she was leaving, but when she kissed his cheek goodbye he didn’t stop her.

‘Don’t be a stranger, Rayla. You’re always welcome here.’

She beamed at him. ‘Thanks Callum. I’ll see you round.’

 

#

 

Rayla managed to sneak out of the wedding reception without another soul noticing, and she leapt lightly from the bailey walls.

‘Have fun?’

She rolled her head in a circle to stretch her neck. ‘Sure. Bit boring but humans are like that I guess.’

Ruvyn snorted, taking a bite of an apple as he leaned casually against a tree. ‘There are plenty of sellswords in there,’ he pointed out. ‘Race you to the Moon Nexus?’

Rayla shot him a delightfully wicked grin. ‘Is it really a race if you’re so slow?’

‘I’ll accept that challenge,’ he said, tossing the apple core over his shoulder.

As Rayla bounded through the trees, she could feel the distance between her and Callum widening again. But this time, even though it hurt, she knew it would be okay.

They were friends, they’d always be friends. And that was enough for her.

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first TDP fic, feedback is appreciated.  
> Thank you as always to Su, for her Betaness. 
> 
> For anyone waiting on STARs to be updated, don't stress, I'm halfway through the chapter and it shouldn't be too much longer. 
> 
> Come yell at me on tumblr, @aaravosed about TDP


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